


This Team Will Never Fail

by Miss_Nihilist



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Communication, Developing Friendships, During Canon, Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-12 12:20:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28510305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_Nihilist/pseuds/Miss_Nihilist
Summary: Lio isn’t entirely sold on piloting the Deus X Machina into battle. Luckily, Galo is willing and able to spend a few minutes doing some convincing.
Relationships: Lio Fotia & Galo Thymos
Comments: 8
Kudos: 33





	This Team Will Never Fail

**Author's Note:**

> Lio’s line in the English dub of, “This is the crap I get after you insist I come out here?” just really got me thinking. I wonder what Galo must’ve done to convince Lio to do it, if he needed convincing.

_“Galo Thymos. Lio Fotia. I want you to stop Kray Foresight.”_

A huge section of the floor parts. From the depths rises a mecha, larger than life, towering over the four of them. It's bigger than the dragon that Lio made, it looks indestructible. It looks like it may just be enough to help them win this war. 

Lio takes a deep breath. He looks flatly at the geometric hologram of Deus Prometh and says, with as little emotion as possible, “I… need a minute.” And then he turns and walks away. 

There’s plenty of room in this underground bunker that Deus has built, so Lio has ample space to walk. He can hear Galo and his friend (what was her name again?) calling after him, but he doesn’t answer, tuning them out. 

This should be a simple choice. He’s being given a weapon that’s perfected and honed specifically with the intention of stopping Kray. Lio doesn’t think that he can muster up another dragon again, not with the anger and pain more tempered now. Not without another volcano, especially. So this is his only option, really. And it’s a damn good one — it’s almost too good to be true. 

No, scratch that. It _is_ too good to be true. That’s part of the problem. 

Life has never been kind to Lio. Everything he’s had, he’s had to claw and struggle for. He pulled together a ramshackle family out of arsonists and reformed murderers. He carved out a home and a future in an abandoned construction site. He keeps a tight lid over how much he burns and when he does it so that no one gets hurt. Lio’s life has never been easy, so why start now? Why should he believe anything that Professor Prometh has to say? For all he knows, this is an elaborate ploy to get Lio into a Prometech pod and shove him into the ship right alongside the rest of the Burnish to be used as fuel. 

That’s just the paranoia, he knows, but _dammit_ , being paranoid has saved his life more than once. The one time that Lio let his guard down, didn’t think to be distrustful, he was rewarded with losing his settlement, his people, and his best friends. 

He sighs and stops walking, pinching the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger. It still hurts. Galo had succeeded in stopping him and calming him down, but that doesn’t mean Lio feels any better. Doesn’t mean that he didn’t fail, doesn’t mean that the only people he’s ever let himself care about aren’t dead at the moment. 

And everything that Professor Prometh said, it’s a lot to take in. His flames… the promare, being aliens from a parallel universe. Of all the explanations Lio had thought up over the years, none were as outlandish as that. 

He prods that warmth at the back of his thoughts curiously, the voice that he does his best to suppress. _“Are you in there? What do you make of all this?”_

All Lio gets for his efforts is a chorus of, _“Burn, burn, burn!”_ He smiles without feeling. Well, at least there’s one thing in his life that hasn’t changed. Even if it doesn’t do him a lot of good at the moment. 

“Lio!” A shout of his name gets him to look over and Lio can’t help but be further annoyed.

That’s another problem — Galo Thymos, his supposed co-pilot. Lio doesn’t know what to make of him. There hasn’t been a lot of time to gather his thoughts and they haven’t had many discussions face-to-face. All he knows is that he left Galo tied up in a cave after pouring out his frustrations, and then a week later, Galo is knocking him away from Kray Foresight and dropping him into a frozen lake. 

Galo is… _interesting_. That's certainly a word for it. The idea of co-piloting with him seems ridiculous. They're nothing alike and they certainly aren’t partners. Lio can't imagine that they’d be very in sync, and Kray will have them dismantled in seconds if they have to shout at each other and argue over every punch. 

The thing is, Galo had stopped him from killing Kray. And Lio isn’t sure why or how he feels about it. He feels like it’s safe to assume that Galo still idolizes Kray, stopped Lio just to protect his hero, but that wasn’t what Galo said in the heat of the moment. He had been appealing to Lio’s moral code, essentially calling him a hypocrite for wanting to kill Kray. The problem is that Lio can’t tell if he would have regretted it or not, moral code be damned. He doesn’t think that he would, but the uncertainty eats at him. 

Yet another thing to wear on his patience.

“Galo.” Lio turns to face him anyway because, if there’s one thing he knows about Galo, it’s that he’s not going to fuck off unless Lio tells him to directly. “I want to be alone right now. I have a lot to think about.” 

“Yeah, I know. But we don’t have a lot of time for that right now.” Galo points frantically to the big displays behind him, showing the Parnassus high in the sky above Promepolis. “The ship’s gonna take off any minute now. Lio, I get that you’ve got some mixed feelings, but—”

“What do you know?” Lio snaps at him. He can’t keep the venom out of his tone or the sneer off of his face, but he directs those things at the ground in the hopes that Galo understands that he’s not the one Lio is angry with. But, _fuck_ , if he doesn't want to be angry right now. "You didn't even know that the Burnish eat food until a week ago. And I'm supposed to pilot with an idiot like _you_?"

He has the tact to look nervous, but only for a second before Galo's replacing that look with one of determination. "I get that it's a lot to ask you to trust me after everything—" Lio rolls his eyes and sees Galo clench his jaw stubbornly, "— _but_ I really do want to help. And besides, you can't do this alone. I've got the best qualifications to pilot with you."

Alone, huh? Lio has never done anything alone. He's always been surrounded by his people, by his brothers in battle. To accept Galo on the same level as Gueira or Meis, is just... “This is ridiculous. I can mount an attack by myself. I was in the middle of doing just that when you interrupted me," Lio says stubbornly.

He glances up and sees Galo’s face darken. “No, that wasn’t about saving the Burnish or anyone else. That was because you wanted to kill Kray,” Galo replies. Not accusatory or even upset, just like he’s stating a fact.

And he is. Lio looks away again and says nothing, not wanting to justify it with a response. He doesn’t need to confirm what they both know to be true, anyway.

Galo stares at him for a few seconds longer, then continues in a quiet voice that Lio’s never heard from him before. “I know that I don’t have a whole community riding on my shoulders, but… I mean, I get the uncertainty.” He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly. “I have mixed feelings about Kray. I idolized him for so long, I thought he was my hero… But even if he did save my life, that doesn’t change what he’s done since then. He deserves to be taken down, but not out of hatred, Lio. You should do it out of love. The love you have for the Burnish.”

He hates hearing that. It doesn’t make any sense because he has no reason to care about Galo but, still, Lio is angry at Kray all over again on Galo’s behalf. He wants to ask Galo why he _doesn’t_ want Kray dead but knows that it’s just his own frustration talking. Because even if Galo’s enthusiasm can be annoying, he’s just such a genuinely _good_ and _kind_ person, and Lio cannot fathom how Kray could treat him like dirt. Galo deserves so much better than that. He deserves to adore someone who feels the exact same way about him.

He lets out a sharp huff through his nose and, focusing on the latter half of Galo’s statement, Lio smiles. It comes out bitter and reluctant, but it’s still there. “Don’t forget the rest of the planet,” he adds quietly. This time, it’s for the whole Earth. Four billion people need them to _not_ fuck this up. The measly hundreds that he’d lost when his settlement was raided have never felt more insignificant. 

“Right. Them, too,” Galo is quick to agree. “I just… you know, what other choice do we have? My point is that we’ve both got a lot of emotions to work through, but we need to put them aside for later. We’re trying to save the planet on a time crunch, Lio. Are you in or out?” He extends his hand for Lio to take, and…

Lio hesitates. He looks between Galo’s hand and his eyes, and doesn’t move. “Are you sure there’s no other Burnish you could ask?” He’s just stalling. Even if there was, Lio wouldn’t let some poor Burnish that Galo yanked off the streets go into battle. It has to be Lio, he knows that he has to do this for his people, and yet, still, his hesitance lingers. 

“I don’t think we’d ever be able to find anyone as powerful as you,” Galo says bluntly. The praise makes Lio’s face hot, although he knows that it’s true. Just another factual statement. “Besides, I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else.” His hand is still outstretched, waiting. 

He can’t help it — Lio snorts, a cross between disbelief and amusement. It’s an inelegant sound. “You barely know me.” It’s as much a reminder for Galo as it is for Lio.

They barely know each other. Galo’s gloved hand, waiting for him to take it, shouldn’t look as inviting as it does. 

“I know enough.” The red behind Galo’s blue eyes seem to sparkle and the corner of his mouth turns up into a soft smile. “You’ve seen me fight, you can’t _honestly_ say that we wouldn’t make a kick-ass team. If we can do what we do on our own, imagine what we can accomplish together. Kray won’t stand a chance, I know it!” He lifts the hand he had outstretched to pump it excitedly in the air. 

Lio rolls his eyes, but his resolve is crumbling. He tells himself that it’s because they have no other options, not because of anything Galo has said. “What? Do you feel it in your “burning firefighter soul”?” Lio asks sarcastically, air-quotes and all. 

“Absolutely!” Galo says without an ounce of hesitation, hands on his hips and chest puffed up proudly. It's a good look on him, helped by the fact that he isn't wearing a shirt. “You’re the power, I’m the pilot. I don’t think there’ll ever be another team as perfect together as the two of us. Because it’s not just my burning soul, Lio, it’s yours, too! You’ve got an inferno for a soul like I do. That’s why I know we’re gonna work so well together.” 

It’s a fight not to smile, but Lio manages. Somehow. The tips of his ears burn. “You make awfully bold claims for someone who’s never fought with me before.” Fuck. He’s really going to do this, isn’t he?

“Well…” Galo holds out his hand again. “You’re being awfully _negative_ for someone who’s never fought with me before.” He waggles his eyebrows playfully. “What, you’re not _scared,_ are you? The great and powerful Mad Burnish boss, Lio Fotia, scared to try something new? Scared to give it your all?” 

No, but he is scared to fail. This is their last chance. If they fail, if one of them dies or loses focus or turns traitor, then they’re doomed. The whole world is doomed. It’s a lot of trust for Lio to place in one person, especially a man that he’s known for a week and spoken to only a handful of times. 

But Lio swallows his indignant retort when he notices Galo’s hand trembling. It’s barely noticeable, but he sees it. And he sees how tight Galo’s smile is, how his free hand is fiddling restlessly with his parachute pants, the clammy sheen to his skin. He’s scared, too. 

Because this is it. Life or death. Win or lose. There will be no second chance, there won’t be another ghost-turned-computer waiting to give them another giant robot. Kray won't hesitate to kill them if they slip up. All they have to save the world is shaky trust in each other and the word of a dead man.

He doesn't want to trust Galo. But Lio doesn't think he has any other options.

Lio takes Galo’s hand. He’s not sure which one of them is more surprised. “What is it that you said when we met?” He hums. “ _‘Balls to the walls’_?”

Galo grins. It’s cold comfort to note that he doesn’t look nearly as anxious as before. “All in!” He agrees, giving Lio’s hand a squeeze. He doesn’t let go, just turns around and starts dragging Lio back to where the pink-haired girl and Professor Prometh are waiting for them. “Don’t worry, Lio. There’ll be plenty of time for you to be sad and angry at the world once we make sure that there’s a world left behind to hate.” 

Of all the ridiculous things that Galo has ever said to him, that one makes the most sense. Lio can’t wait to be done saving the world so that he can cry and punch a wall and throw things and scream and take the time to just sit down, exist, and let himself _feel._ “Deal,” he agrees, and he gives Galo’s hand a squeeze.

**Author's Note:**

> Being angry and sad is valid, you don’t always have to fix it or do something to avoid feeling those things. Punch a pillow, listen to angsty music, kiss your twunk boyfriend, watch Promare for the fourth time this week and then spend an hour writing a short oneshot to fill your need for more during canon content. What was I saying?


End file.
